Just purchased a 2018 Cat 308E2 SR mini excavator from our local auction company. Cant find much info on this exact model machine. Also while looking online seen they made a CR option also? Could someone possibly give me some more info on these machines? Actually haven't been able to find another one like it for sale... Wondering if what I have is something kinda rare or limited production?? Thanks!
That's the first time I've seen an articulating boom machine built for North America. They were sold overseas for years and ended up coming into the country through the gray market. My info shows your machine is a 2018 model. The weak points are the joints in the boom which get sloppy over time. The other issue in the past was the potentiometers mounted on the boom and stick areas were subject to debris damaging them or their wiring. There is a computer system in the machine that monitors where the bucket is at and will stop the bucket from hitting the cab. Problems I had with that system was the wiring getting torn and the operators finding a way to bypass the safety and then hitting the cab. Back then a cab was just a shell keeping the weather off the operator. Today the cab is a ROPS structure and any dents require it be replaced. It is a very spendy mistake. Hope this helps.
I do believe this machine was originally in Japan. Has stickers on it that would make sense. Yes it was sold as a 2018 year machine. Are you familiar with the CR model also?
Also could you explain more about the "gray market" you had mentioned?
Grey Market is a term referred to a machine that was not made for the US market. So the machine may not have the safety or emissions components required to legally operate in the US. The biggest issue with grey market machines can be the lack of parts and service support as some manufacturers do not support grey market machines for liability reasons. Not saying yours is only defining the term grey market.
I have serial number coverage for the machine so it is more likely than not meant for North America. There are factories in several countries building Cat excavators. Most of the Cat excavators that I have experienced through inspections were built in Japan and China. The big issue with Cat excavators not built for North America concerns the cab shells. Cat would not provide cab parts for gray market machines. That may have changed now because of roll over protection being standard on excavator cabs. The CR versions are reduced tail swing and had the standard booms that may or may not swing on a king post at the front of the cab. Things have changed plenty since I moved on from my last employer so check the Cat web sites for confirmation.
Thank you. Im wondering if I have one of maybe only a handful of machines with the articulating boom here in the states. Do you know what the main design of this boom is for? Why is it more common in other countries than around here?!
To my knowledge Cat never made that model for the US market, in 25 years I've never seen one on the dealers yard or rental fleet however that doesn't mean much. Cat does offer a variant of that boom the VAB version on the next gen 308. https://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/equipment/excavators/mini-excavators/108939670331.html That type of boom is popular in Europe and other places where the buildings are close together and the streets are narrow. It allow the operator to dig in all sorts of tight places. The version of SIS I have will not let me look up equipment we don't own. Nige or one of the other cat wrenches have access to a more robust SIS that can tell you the info you need to know about what market the machine was intended for.
All the service & parts information for your Serial Number is available in SIS. So there is no issue similar to what happens with Grey Market machines built in the 1990s which don't even appear. Whether your particular model was ever offered for sale in the US I have no idea. Just because the PIN plate says Made in Japan should not imply that it was only built for the Japanese market.
Good point. Our 305, 321 and 325 all have a Made in Japan ID plate.
There were plenty of brands and model sizes that came into the US through the gray market with that configuration. The reason they came here is because it was far less expensive to purchase a low hour gray market machine than purchase a new domestic one here. Because of that a lot of machine types caught on here. No one would think of purchasing a mini excavator in 1980. The grays came in and by 2000 they caught on here. Swing and articulating booms are another part of that history. They showed up here and people bought them so the manufacturers basically had to produce them or lose market share. I had not seen your configuration sold domestically here. But since my sources, that only cover domestic machines, show a model year and Nice can see it in the Cat parts and service system in English, I have to assume that it is now available, new, as at least an option.
321D LCR and 315CL-